Virgin Group Nj Casino
Virgin Casino NJ is a joint venture between UK-based online gaming service provider Gamesys and the Virgin Group. In 2014, this online casino became the second one to launch all its online casino operations under the Tropicana AC iGaming license. Virgin Casino will launch in partnership with Gamesys, the online gambling partner of Tropicana Casino & Resort. The website will be one of 15 sites approved for play in New Jersey.
- Virgin Group Nj Casino Entertainment
- Virgin Group Nj Casino Atlantic City
- Virgin Group Nj Casino Reopening
- Virgin Group Nj Casino No Deposit
Virgin has landed in New Jersey, USA and it’s here to have fun, making fun. Virgin Casino is a unique online casino that brings some red-hot excitement to New Jersey, appealing to a wide range of people in the area. Whether you want to play for fun or the thrill of a win, you'll find a game to suit your style at Virgin Casino.
We wanted to utilise our crowd-pleasing expertise to deliver the best online casino experience New Jersey’s ever seen. That’s why we provide 24/7 customer service and exclusive promotions that only Virgin could offer, whilst keeping responsible gambling our number one priority through actions such as deposit and gaming session limits and providing confidential customer helplines.
Players love Virgin Casino because we’ve got exclusive games and awesome promotions, we don’t charge for card withdrawals or deposits and we’re seriously secure.
Find out more at Virgin Casino.
Virgin Casino launched in November 2014 after receiving its license from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. State law dictates that all casino sites operate off an online gaming license held by a land-based casino. To that end, VirginCasino.com is partnered with Tropicana Resort & Casino Atlantic City.
Snapshot: Virgin Casino has been in operation since January 2014 and is one of the only casinos in the USA to offer a welcome bonus with no wagering requirements. A lack of sports betting and online poker are big misses, but the casino itself offers a varied assortment of slots, table games and video poker.
Pros:
- Welcome bonus with no wagering requirements
- Frequent, generous promotions
- Desktop and mobile compatible
Cons:
- Lacks sports betting and online poker
- Weak video poker offering
- Limited game selection
- Unorganized games lobby
Ratings:
Overall: 3.7
- Reputation and Licensing: 5.0
- Game Variety: 2.5
- Bonuses and Promotions: 5.0
- Deposits and Withdrawals: 4.0
- Software and Graphics: 2.0
Like Tropicana, Virgin Casino is powered by Gamesys technology.
If you have played at Tropicana Casino, you’ll know what to expect at Virgin Casino. The differences between the two sites are largely cosmetic – one is adorned with Tropicana imagery and the other with Virgin branding. However, both sites are known for generous welcome bonuses and other promotions. If you like the no-rollover welcome bonus offered at Tropicana, you can step on over to pick up the same bonus at Virgin Casino.
Virgin Online Casino also demonstrates the same strengths and weaknesses as Tropicana. VirginCasino.com could use a software upgrade to improve the games lobby, the game selection is on the smaller side and the casino lacks online poker and sports betting.
On the other hand, Virgin Casino has some of the best promotions in the online gaming market. The welcome bonus has a bit of a negative implication in that it only pays if you lose money over your first week, but offers significant value nonetheless.
Some players may find the implication that you only benefit from the bonus if you lose off-putting, but this promotion offers significant value as it essentially allows you to “freeroll” the casino with your first $100. If you win, great – you get to keep your winnings. If you lose, Virgin Casino reimburses you with up to $100 back to try again.
Other online casinos may offer bigger welcome bonuses that they excitedly describe as “worth up to $1,000,” but those bonuses also come with steep wagering requirements that are difficult to meet and still have any bonus money left over. By contrast, Virgin Casino’s welcome offer puts actual cash in your account with no wagering requirements.
Virgin Casino Bonus
The Virgin Casino bonus is different than most new player offers offered elsewhere. In this one, Virgin Casino will reimburse you with up to $100 if you lose money in your first week as a new player.
The bonus is activated by signing up for an account, making a deposit of at least $10 and placing your first wager. If you’re down after seven days, Virgin Casino will fully reimburse your losses with up to $100 in cash deposited straight into your account. This cash is fully withdrawable and comes with no wagering requirements.
For an illustration, imagine making a $100 first deposit at VirginCasino.com. After seven days, you’re down to $50 because luck just didn’t go your way. At that point, Virgin Casino would give you $50 in cash to cover your losses.
Instant No-Deposit Bonus
If you have a custom bonus code, you can submit it when signing up for an account to get up to $50 in bonus cash with no deposit necessary. Virgin Casino explains there is no catch: use the bonus money to play games online and keep all your winnings. However, you may only cash out your winnings after making a first deposit of at least $10.
The instant bonus money itself is not withdrawable and may only be used to play games at VirginCasino.com. The bonus money expires after 30 days.
Exchange Loyalty Points for Cash
All real money play at VirginCasino.com is rewarded with loyalty points (V*Points) that can be exchanged for cash. Whether you win or lose, you always receive V*Points for playing and the more you wager, the more V*Points you get.
The Virgin Casino cash back program is a good thing in concept, but points are slow to accumulate and the exchange rate is low. High-volume players are the only customers likely to derive much benefit from this system.
Virgin Group Nj Casino Entertainment
V*Points are earned at the following rates:
- 1 V*Point for every $15 wagered on 90-ball bingo
- 1 V*Point for every $40 wagered on slots
- 1 V*Point for every $100 wagered on all other games
Your V*Points can be redeemed for cash at a rate of $0.01 for every V*Point redeemed. In other words, every 100 V*Points is worth $1.00 in cash back bonuses.
To illustrate, here’s how much money you need to wager at each type of game to earn $1 in bonus cash:
- $1,500 in 90-ball bingo for $1 in cash back
- $4,000 in slots for $1 in cash back
- $10,000 in all other games for $1 in cash back
The slow earn rate of V*Points combined with the low exchange ratio makes it difficult to earn any significant amount of money through the cash back program unless you are a highly active player. To further slow things down, all cash back bonuses must be rolled over one time before withdrawal.
Virgin Casino VIP Program
Virgin Casino offers a VIP program, but provides zero detail regarding how to be invited. If you meet the play requirements, you’ll be invited. Otherwise, you can call customer support or e-mail the VIP program at VIP@virgincasino.com to ask about joining.
Once you’re invited, Virgin Casino offers a number of benefits strictly for VIP members. Again, there is little detail regarding how or when these particular benefits are offered. Some of the benefits you might receive include:
- VIP-exclusive bonuses and promotions
- Birthday bonuses
- “Bespoke luxury gifts”
- VIP-exclusive drawings with high end prizes
- Personal VIP hosts
- Tickets to shows and sporting events in New Jersey
- Weekend getaways complete with travel, accommodation and activities
- Luxury dining experiences
Other Bonuses and Promotions
One thing Virgin Casino does very well is offer customers a rotating variety of long and short-term bonuses and promotions that are useful and generous. These promos change often, but some examples of recent promos and a few longer-term offers follow below.
- Community Jackpots: This long-running promotion offers special community jackpots randomly awarded when playing slots, table games or bingo. If you hit a community jackpot, you can win up to $10,000 instantly. Even better, anyone else who played that same game within the last hour also wins a share of the secondary community jackpot worth up to $20,000.
- Refer-a-Friend: Another long-running promotion that will give you $50 and anyone you refer $10 in bonus money. Just have your friend sign up for an account and input your e-mail address in the “referred by” field. You and your friend will each need to roll over your bonus one time before withdrawing.
- Daily Free Games: Each month, Virgin Casino selects two slots and gives players of those games a chance to win free spins. Each day that you play, you’ll get a certain item (such as a shell or an egg) and then you crack open those items at the end of the month to see what you’ve won.
- Harvest Rally: This was a recent Fall-themed promotion that lasted for a single weekend. During the promotional period, Virgin Casino players could receive up to $50 in cash back bonuses on losses, a 10% up to $50 deposit bonus and entry into a $1,000 prize drawing.
- Virgin Adventures: This past promotion lasted a month and involved a drawing in which the winner was flown to Miami for a vacation and a visit to the Art Basel show. During the promotional period, players earned one entry into the drawing for every $50 wagered at Virgin Casino.
Virgin Casino Mobile App and Software
Virgin Casino is compatible with desktop and mobile devices alike. PC and Mac users can visit VirginCasino.com to play online through their browsers with no download necessary. iPhone and Android owners can download the official Virgin Casino app from their respective app stores to play on the go.
Whether you’re playing from a desktop or a mobile device, you’ll find a casino lobby that is poorly-organized but games that function beautifully. The lobby itself lacks organization and offers no useful search or sort features, which is annoying if you like to play slots from certain providers such as NetEnt, Gamesys, IGT or any of the Virgin Casino exclusives. For the most part, finding games is a matter of scrolling up and down the lobby to find a game that stands out.
The experience improves significantly once you actually enter a game and start playing. Individual games look and function well. In our experience, all games loaded quickly and looked up to date with modern graphics, responsive button clicks and easily-customizable options such as bet sizes, volume and so on.
One minor gripe we have is that most mobile games require you to hold the game in landscape mode. Some games to work when holding your mobile device upright, but even then, it’s clear the games are not optimized for portrait mode with small playing areas and too much blank space.
Virgin Online Casino features games from multiple third-party developers to provide a good deal of variety in style, theme and bet sizes.
Slots of all different types are offered with some that look like modern video games and others that are straight from the old one-armed-bandit days. Table games also look great, but the video poker games could use a major upgrade on graphics.
Virgin Casino Slots
Virgin Casino’s online slots are a strong point with games from multiple providers and an assortment of exclusive Gamesys titles that you won’t find on other gaming platforms. There are only about 200 slots on offer, which is fewer than average. Despite this, there is a wide range in variety between classic slots, advanced slots with multiple bonus games and a few progressive jackpot games.
At the time of this review, the two slots with the largest progressive jackpots were Deal or No Deal with a jackpot of nearly $167,000 and Wonderland with a jackpot of nearly $290,000. Both games are Gamesys exclusives, so you may not have seen these before at other licensed online casinos.
There are two areas in which Virgin Casino could improve its slots collection. First would be to simply improve the lobby. When you log in to the casino to play slots, you’ll find them all grouped under the slots tab in no particular order. Finding a specific slot or even games from a particular provider is an exercise in patience because there are no search, sort or filter features to assist in your search.
Second, the casino could use more slots in general. While the current collection of 200+ slots should be ample for newer casino players, some of you more experienced players will already have seen many of these games elsewhere (excepting the Gamesys exclusives). With some other legal online casinos featuring 500 or more slots, Virgin Casino has some catching up to do in this regard.
Table Games and Video Poker
Virgin Casino has a healthy table games selection that covers all the major games plus a few extras that are not found as often at competing casinos. Standard table games including blackjack, roulette, craps and baccarat are offered in addition to some of the harder-to-find games such as Hi-Lo, Pai Gow Poker and Three Card Poker.
A wide range of stakes are accepted and should keep the games interesting for players of all bankrolls. Blackjack, for instance, can be played for as little as $1 a hand or as much as $2,500 a hand. Speaking of blackjack, there are numerous variations to choose from such as single deck blackjack, multi-hand blackjack and other types with differing rules for when the dealer checks for 21, whether or not late surrender is offered and so on.
Table games at Virgin Casino include:
- Blackjack (six variations)
- Roulette (four variations including single zero)
- Craps
- Pai Gow Poker
- Three Card Poker
- Hi-Lo
- Baccarat
Video poker receives only the most perfunctory of attention at Virgin Casino with a few of the most popular games offered, but not much beyond that. Graphics and overall presentation are also greatly lacking when it comes to video poker. The games do move quickly, but the graphics look so dated its actually distracting.
The full video poker collection includes:
- Bonus Poker
- Double Bonus Poker
- Double Double Bonus Poker
- Jacks or Better
- Multi-Hand Triple Play Draw Poker
- Multi-Hand Five Play Draw Poker
Virgin Online Keno
You’ll find two keno games at Virgin Casino. One is a simple, bare-bones game simply titled Keno produced by the same people who designed the video poker games. In this one, you make up to 15 picks and can earn a payout as high as $50,000 if you place a max bet of $5. This game’s graphics are mediocre, but the sound effects are absolutely jarring. You might want to turn your volume down when you play this one.
The other is called Fortune Teller Keno and it features much better graphics, but moves at a slower pace and lacks any quick-pick features as offered in the other keno game. The rules and payouts are generally the same, with players able to make up to 15 picks for a top payout of $50,000.
Virgin Casino Bingo
Virgin Casino is one of the only online casinos in the United States with true, multi-player bingo. The Virgin bingo room hosts 90-ball bingo games around the clock complete with multiple winning patterns, a “Super Jackpot,” shared jackpots and a chat room that provides the critical community aspect.
Virgin Bingo runs games daily with buyins of $1, $2 and $5. Additionally, Virgin Bingo runs a free game every 30 minutes with bonus money payouts for the players who are first to complete one line, two lines and a full house.
One thing to keep in mind is 90-ball bingo is not the game most of us are accustomed to here in the States. The game with a square playing card and a free space in the middle that you might have played in grade school is 75-ball bingo. Virgin Bingo is 90-ball bingo with playing cards that look more like wide, flat strips.
The actual gameplay, however, is the same as standard bingo. You’ll receive your card, listen for your numbers, mark them off and hope to be the first to complete one of the winning patterns. Whenever someone achieves a full house within 51 ball calls, Virgin Casino awards the Super Jackpot to the winner along with a community jackpot that is shared with everyone else.
Virgin Casino Banking Methods
Virgin Casino could use more deposit methods, but it does have a few options in place that cover all the main forms of payment (cash, credit and online banking).
The one major payment method Virgin Casino lacks right now is PayPal. This is unfortunate because many New Jersey players are still experiencing declined credit card deposits to gambling sites due to banks blocking all gaming transactions by default. PayPal has taken over as a trusted workaround as it can be funded with credit and debit cards before sending that money to players’ gaming accounts.
If you do have trouble depositing with a credit or debit card, the next best option would be an instant eCheck.
Virgin Casino accepts all of the following deposit methods:
- Visa and Mastercard: Use your credit or debit card to fund your account. Just input your info, choose an amount to deposit and your account will be funded instantly. If your deposit is rejected, you can try a bank transfer or instant eCheck as an alternative.
- Online Banking Transfer: Online banking transfers initiate a deposit to your Virgin Casino account and then redirect you to a secure page on your bank’s website. There, you log in with your existing online banking info to confirm the deposit. Your banking details are never shared with Virgin Casino.
- Instant eCheck: Enter your bank account number, routing number and an amount to deposit. Virgin Casino will credit your gaming account instantly.
- PayNearMe: This is the option to use if you have cash in hand or do not have a bank account. Select PayNearMe as your deposit option to receive a pay slip, take that slip to your local 7-Eleven and then pay the cashier with cash. Your gaming account will be credited immediately.
Will Virgin Casino Expand to Additional States?
Virgin Group Nj Casino Atlantic City
The Virgin Group is involved in numerous industries around the world as a highly-diversified investment company. It is perhaps best known in the UK for its many ventures there ranging from spaceflight (Virgin Galactic) to healthcare (Virgin Care).
In the gambling sector, Virgin Games has operated in the UK since 2003 as a licensed online casino. Virgin Games also offers online poker and bingo in the UK but is not involved in sports betting.
Virgin Group Nj Casino Reopening
The odds of Virgin Casino expanding significantly in the US look dim at present. Aside from a planned property in Las Vegas, the Virgin Group has no physical presence in the US. Expanding beyond New Jersey and Nevada would therefore require partnering with land-based casinos in other states – many of which have already partnered with other online gaming groups.
Virgin Group Nj Casino No Deposit
This leaves Virgin Casino in a tight spot as far as expansion is concerned.